- Date
- January 27, 2007, 12:15 local (17:15 UTC)
- Place
- Sanford, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N20956Cessna 172S
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 26, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20070127000849A
- Case key
- 65261
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The inadvertent inflight collision with a bird resulting in damage to the airplane and the pilot having limited control capability.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot stated that he departed from Orlando Sanford International Airport, Sanford, Florida, with a new student on a discovery flight. He further stated that after exiting class C airspace, as he initiated a climb, a turkey buzzard impacted the airplane's right wing causing damage. The damage caused the airplane to turn to the right and severely limited his ability to control the airplane. According to the pilot it placed the airplane in a descending right spiral. The pilot recovered the airplane from the spiral and made a forced landing to a nearby field. During the landing the nose wheel dug into the ground and separated bringing the airplane to a stop. According to the pilot, prior to the buzzard impacting the airplane's wing, there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions to the airplane or any of its systems.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that he departed from Orlando Sanford International Airport, Sanford, Florida, with a new student on a discovery flight. He further stated that after exiting class C airspace, as he initiated a climb, a turkey buzzard impacted the airplane's right wing causing damage. The damage caused the airplane to turn to the right and severely limited his ability to control the airplane. According to the pilot it placed the airplane in a descending right spiral. The pilot recovered the airplane from the spiral and made a forced landing to a nearby field. During the landing the nose wheel dug into the ground and separated bringing the airplane to a stop. According to the pilot, prior to the buzzard impacting the airplane's wing, there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions to the airplane or any of its systems.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N20956
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S9564
- Airframe hours
- 1,463
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Falcon Flight Aviation
- Registered owner
- Kumar V. Sampath, C/O Teknocraft
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 1, 2007 · 23 hours before
- Departed
- SFB · Sanford, FL
- Destination
- SFB
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 36
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Last flight review
- July 1, 2006
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 930 total · 603 in this make and model · 778 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 22
- Injuries
- None
- Last flight review
- July 1, 2006
- Seat
- Left
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- SFB
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.